Cleaning

Just as expected.

No sooner had Soren finished speaking than strange noises came from nearby. They did not even have time to collect the loot before mounting their horses and fleeing in the other direction. Less than two minutes later, a large bulge rose from the grass beside the road, and a Burrowing Worm drilled out of the ground. It was not over yet. Another immediately emerged, followed closely by a third Burrowing Worm nearby.

A small group of four Burrowing Worms.

The others looked back, and cold sweat instantly broke out all over them.

If Soren had not warned them to leave immediately, one or two of them would probably already be dead!

One Burrowing Worm was already difficult enough to deal with. Now three had appeared at once; even with Norod's strength as a third-tier Northlands barbarian, they had little chance of surviving. One round of acid spray from those three Burrowing Worms could wipe out half of them, and the rest probably would not last even a single round.

That was why Burrowing Worms had a higher challenge rating than Abyss serpent demons!

The Burrowing Worms discovered their dead companion. These monsters retained some beastly instincts. They let out sharp hisses in the direction Soren and the others had fled, then immediately burrowed underground in pursuit. However, they were clearly slower than horses. Before long, they emerged some distance away and stared in the direction they had gone.

Even wolf packs understood revenge, let alone Burrowing Worms, supernatural creatures like these.

"We have you to thank this time."

The guard captain reached out and patted Soren on the shoulder, then held his badly injured companion tightly and spurred his horse toward the caravan.

Soren's injuries were relatively minor. He had merely suffered corrosion from acidic blood.

The caravan guard who had faced the acid spray head-on was in far worse condition. Although his shield had blocked much of it, plenty of splashed acid had still landed on him. The skin on many parts of his body had been burned and rotted away. That was the terror of a Burrowing Worm's acid spray: not only did it corrode and burn with powerful acid, but the creature's biology also made it fairly toxic. Fortunately, these were only Burrowing Worms. If they had encountered challenge rating 15 wyverns, the acid they spat could melt even full plate armor!

Those were the truly deadly things.

In terms of corrosiveness and toxicity, a wyvern's spray attack was among the best below legendary rank! (Wyverns also lived in groups!)

The caravan soon came into view.

The guards reacted swiftly. People immediately came to meet them, while nearly a third drew their weapons and automatically formed a protective ring around the others. The merchants shouted orders at their workers, having them gather the wagons together to form a simple wagon fort.

This was a common tactic used by experienced merchants to fend off bandit attacks.

"Take me to the mistress."

After catching his breath, the guard captain carried his companion down from the horse. In just this short time, the caravan guard's face had already turned paper-white. It was not only because of the acid's corrosiveness, but also because of the small amount of poison that had seeped into his body and his severe blood loss. In wilderness adventures, death came not only from enemies, but also from wounds that continued to worsen, even though their bodies were far tougher than those of people from Earth's past.

The caravan guards quickly gathered together.

The archers and crossbowmen stood atop the wagons, while the warriors in studded Leather Armor raised their shields. For a moment, they carried themselves like an army.

Northlands merchants.

They were the strongest fighters among merchants, because many of the guards they hired were retired soldiers.

Many players who had once turned to banditry called them hard bones to chew!

The curtain of the large carriage protected at the center of the caravan was lifted, and a graceful veiled woman appeared. She glanced at the injured guard and said in a grave voice, "Clean his wounds immediately, then bring him into the carriage."

Having said that.

She shifted her gaze to Soren and said in a grave voice, "You too."

"I have a special ointment here. Let them apply it to your wounds."

The others took the warrior away to have his wounds cleaned, while the guard captain reported what had happened ahead to her. Everything was orderly, without the slightest sign of panic.

And at the center of all that order was this Mysterious Woman!

A descendant of the Northern Witch.

Under her commands, everyone carried out their duties strictly. The initially flustered merchants also calmed down and had some prepared Healing Potions brought out. Northern Witches were mysterious and powerful beings. In some ways, they were even more dangerous than southern wizards, because they not only wielded mysterious spells but also inherited some of the gifted abilities of witch doctors.

This had once been one of the most difficult special professions to advance into!

(Requirements for advancement: third tier, spellcasting level 5, divination ability.)

The severely injured man was soon carried over. The guard captain personally applied medicine to him, then poured a Healing Potion down his throat.

Soren's injuries were not serious, but Vivian still treated them as though facing a great enemy. She applied ointment all over him, carefully bandaged his thigh wound, and showed no concern for wasting the rather precious salve.

She even personally fed Soren another Healing Potion!

Little Girl rarely cried after growing up.

Whenever she saw Soren injured, she usually treated his wounds in silence. She would never cry and fuss like other little girls. The tacit understanding they had developed while depending on each other in childhood had long since made her the person who could set fires for Soren whenever he needed to kill someone.

Even though she was kind by nature!

"Burrowing Worms?"

The Mysterious Woman frowned slightly. After glancing at Soren beside her, she asked the guard captain, "What should we do now?"

"Should we continue onward?"

A troubled expression appeared on the guard captain's face before he said, "I am not very familiar with the habits of these creatures."

"Perhaps he knows more!"

Everyone present turned their gazes toward Soren. He was using clumsy jokes to cheer up the Little Girl, whose eyes were slightly red. Only after she tugged at his sleeve did he realize everyone was looking at him. He hurriedly said, "Burrowing Worms are very stubborn creatures and rarely leave their territory!"

"There must be a reason they appeared here."

"However."

"Since they have come here, they will not leave anytime soon."

"So there are only two options."

"One is for us to kill them. Otherwise, they will definitely attack when the caravan passes by."

"The other is to go around them by taking another route."

"These creatures will not track us."

Detour.

The Mysterious Woman frowned and immediately ordered, "Norod!"

"Take some men and kill them."

Her tone allowed no doubt, and Norod, the guard captain, did not hesitate in the slightest. He immediately said in a deep voice, "As you wish."

"Mistress."

"I will take men to deal with these troubles at once."

With that, he began organizing men, having some shields brought out. He left half behind to protect the caravan and took the other half with him to deal with the Burrowing Worms. Most of the caravan called the Mysterious Woman mistress, which meant her status was very noble. Even if the others were not her slaves, they were servants dependent on her.

Soren could not help but feel a trace of curiosity about this Mysterious Woman's identity!

Northern Witches.

For these women to possess their own territory in the realm of the Ice and Snow Goddess, they were certainly no simple figures!

Not to mention that they were a group of dangerous wizards.

After thinking it over, Soren still rose to his feet and said, "I will go too."

"I have some experience dealing with these things."

"I imagine."

"It will be much easier to kill them."

After saying that, he reassured Vivian that he would be fine, then mounted his horse and followed.

Since he was merely accompanying them, the caravan's mistress did not require Soren to join the operation. It was the most basic form of respect. However, when the guard captain gathered the men, he still glanced at Soren, clearly hoping that he would come along.

The Mysterious Woman nodded slightly.

The guard captain rode up beside Soren and said in a deep voice, "Do not fight later."

"Just tell us these worms' weaknesses."

Soren touched his curved sword and moved his body slightly, gauging how much his injuries affected him. Then he said, "I understand."

"Have them prepare more shields."

"These worms can unleash a lethal acid spray. Ordinary Leather Armor is useless against it."

"I will find a way to draw them out later."

After killing that Burrowing Worm with one strike earlier, Soren had gained more than 900 points of Slaughter Experience. After his Professional Level rose to the second tier, he needed 3,000 experience points to advance to level 6 as a rogue. He could no longer rely solely on Lockpicking and disarming traps for experience; he had to personally take up a blade and kill monsters.

With so many people acting together this time, it was a relatively safe and reliable way to earn experience!

It would be best if he could gain another 900 points of Slaughter Experience.

After all, opportunities to encounter monsters like these would be rare in the future, and he was not very confident he could kill them alone.

In a normal adventure.

Even if he cleared out a small kobold tribe of fifteen to thirty creatures by himself, along with an awakened kobold warlock, he would only gain around 800 points of Slaughter Experience.

He would not pass up an opportunity like this to improve his strength!

(PS: As for the stamina consumption in an explosive state, everyone can look at heavyweight boxing championship matches. Those are professional-level fighters with Constitution 15, yet their stamina often begins dropping sharply after only a few rounds.)